My soapbox to proclaim on hockey, football, politics, life. Spotlighted will be the Montreal Canadiens, and the San Diego Chargers, at least until the Vancouver GlassSmashers' inaugural NFL season.

Friday, 25 October 2013

The Canadiens' new goal song: "Le But" by Loco Locass

For everyone asking what is the 'new goal song' they're playing at the New Forum, it's called "Le But" by Quebec rap artists Loco Locass.

The song itself is a punchy rap with lots of catchy rhymes, and it does the neat trick (for a rap song) of turning in the end into a mass singalong. Which I guess isn't that singular, come to think of it, since we've all sung along to "Hot in Here" and "Gin and Juice" and "California Love" and ...

Anyway, the song does a good job of speaking to the attachment Quebecers have with the Canadiens, through the generations, as well as the impact the team has had on our society.

This one was the absolutely fantastic job done by the Hockey Night in Canada crew for their musical intro to the broadcast of a playoff game in 2010 between the Penguins and the Habs, using "Le But" and their treasure trove of archival footage. I know a lot of people think it will be great if CBC loses the broadcast rights to the NHL, but I fear the clowns at Sportsnet more than I loathe Don Cherry and facepalm at Bob Cole. We might lose these magic intros that HNIC does so well.

So the snippet they use for the 'goal song' is obviously the "Allez Montréal" refrain at the end. Whether it works or not I can't say. I'm not sure if I hear the crowd get into it and sing along as much as we'd like. Maybe it's misused, I'd like the New Forum wizards to fashion it into a chant/song the fans can break into, with prodding from the video boards, an alternative to the "Go Habs Go" or "Olé" song, when the team needs a pick-me-up.